


on my last legs

by navigat1on



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Amnesia, M/M, Pre-Serum Bucky Barnes, kind of???
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 07:38:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1932351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navigat1on/pseuds/navigat1on
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an effort to get The Winter Soldier's memories back, Bruce and Tony develop a serum to reverse Hydra's mind-wiping. But due to a small miscalculation, all of The Winter Soldier's memories are erased leaving Bucky with only his memories of everything before the serum, causing him to think and act like it's still the 30's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	on my last legs

**Author's Note:**

> i accidently deleted this while i was editing the story, so i'm really sorry! as usual, please excuse any errors in the story, including characters, details, locations, yadda yadda. i will most likely continue this, whether you guys like it or not. i write, edit, and upload at night, so expect new chapters in the mornings. enjoy!
> 
> (also, do you guys remember that episode of Spongebob where Spongebob and Patrick have to paint Mr. Krabs house and avoid getting paint on anything but the wall, or else Krabs will hang their butts over his fireplace? theres a reference to that in this because why not.)

It was an accident. A complete accident. Tony rushed through his math and mismeasured the ingredients for the serum. It was an easy mistake to make, and easily reversible. But Steve doesn’t know if he even wants it reversed. 

It all started with the plan to get The Winter Soldier’s memories back. Not just Bucky’s memories of Steve, but his memories of everything. The killing, assassinations, people, locations - anything to get SHIELD started on destroying every last Hydra base. After they infiltrated the underground Hydra base where the soldier was kept in cryogenics and (finally) rescued him, the team had brought him to a makeshift holding cell in the basement of the Avengers Tower. Bruce and Tony were immediately at work to make a serum to reverse the brainwashing Hydra did. It wasn’t entirely Tony’s fault that a minor miscalculation was made and this happened - the whole team was on edge with a master assassin living in the same building as them. But there was no denying it. Something had gone completely wrong, and Fury was going to have their asses mounted over his fireplace when he found out.

After Bruce carefully sedated the soldier, Tony and Clint carried his unconscious (and unnaturally heavy) body up to the labs and lay him down on a worktable.

“Fuck, for such a skinny guy, he’s heavier than Hulk,” Clint says, with obviously labored breathing. Tony laughs, but even that came out as more of a wheeze.

“I heard that.”

Clint and Tony turn around, watching Bruce as he shuts the door of the chemical testing area and starts towards the soldier. He’s carrying a greenish liquid in a test tube with a pair of tongs, wearing gloves, a mask, and goggles.

“Sorry, Dr. Jekyll,” says Tony, stretching backwards and hearing his bones realign. He moans in discomfort.

Bruce rolls his eyes and skillfully sets the serum down on the table next to The Winter Soldier’s sleeping form. He sighs, setting the tongs down and pulling the goggles below his chin.

“Thanks, Clint. We’ll let you know if we need you again.”

“Yeah, no problem, just fix the dude,” Clint says, turning to the elevators, which quickly open for him. Bruce nods. He hopes.

Tony pulls on a lab coat and washes his hands. Damn, this is going to suck. Once they inject the serum into the soldier, he’ll probably wake up right away and beat the shit out of Bruce. They don’t even know if it’s going to work. They’ve tested it enough on lab rats, but not humans. Unfortunately, there were no volunteers for that. Not to mention the hell Steve’s going to have to go through. Seeing your best friend die and then finding out that he is, in fact, alive and trying to kill you must do something to the man. 

“Jarvis, call Steve down and tell him we’re ready to go,” Tony says, speaking to the air.

“Right away, sir,” the air answers.

///

Steve was pacing in his room when Jarvis sent Tony’s message, and before the AI could even finish two words, Steve was out of the room and nearly jogging to the elevator. He couldn’t be stressed enough. For the past couple of days as Bruce and Tony were concocting the serum, Steve has had the knowledge of Bucky being down in the basement, just four floors below him. He has not slept and barely eaten, focusing on fighting the itching feeling to go see Bucky. But even if he tried to, he would never get to him. Jarvis had that area locked down. Only Tony was allowed access, and even he was too nervous to go down there. 

Steve goes down the elevator, tapping his foot relentlessly. Once he arrives at the labs, Tony is there waiting for him in the hall. He waves and smiles, signaling for Steve to stop.

“Hey, cap! The soldier’s in there and the serum’s ready, but I just wanted to tell you a few rules real quick,” he says, putting on his most caring and sincere face, which looks more like a grimace.

“Okay shoot,” Steve says impatiently. God, was he ever going to see him?

“Alright, so neither Bruce nor I want you jump on Bucky while he’s still sedated. That might wake him, and the cuffs we put on him are probably not going to withstand him. Also, don’t pressure him to remember you. We don’t know what the formula’ll do to him with counteracting the super-soldier serum. And lastly, please don’t cry. If you cry, I’ll cry, and we don’t want that. Good deal?”

“Yeah, okay. Let’s just get it done with.”

Tony nods and turns around, typing a code on the holographic keyboard. The doors slide open, and Steve nearly trips over Tony trying to get to Bucky. Bruce looks up from his clipboard as Steve makes it to the work table, looking at his unconscious friend in a mix of despair and relief.

“Hey, Steve. We’re ready to activate the serum whenever you are.”

He sighs. “Yeah, go ahead.” He casts his eyes to Bucky’s face.

This is the first time in over seventy years that Steve has seen the man looking so serene. His face wasn’t full of it’s regular angry tension or pure confusion; he was calm. Steve wishes he could draw this to remember that even though The Winter Soldier was destructive and deadly, Bucky was a beauty.

Steve and Tony stand at either sides of the table as Bruce injects the green solution into Bucky’s forearm. Once the syringe is empty, Bruce draws back, and sets it on the table, replacing it with his clipboard and a pen. He turns back to Bucky as they all eagerly await a reaction. And the reaction comes fast. The group observes as his eyes open and then slam shut again. He moans at the bright white light of the fluorescent bulbs and tries to bring his hands to his face. The chains of the cuffs on his limbs keep him in place. His eyes reopen in confusion

He audibly whispers “What the fuck,” peering down his body and at his metal hand, briefly intrigued by the way the fingers move at his command. He looks back up, first at Bruce and Tony, then to Steve. Bucky’s eyes are about to move around the room when he does a double take at Steve. He knows this man.

“Steve? Is that you? Where are we?” He says, struggling against the restraints and looking at his friend in confusion. Bucky notices Steve exchange looks with the men on the other side of the table before directing his attention back to Bucky.

“Bucky, yeah, it’s Steve. I can’t believe it’s really you,” Steve says, about to tear up. He hears Tony mutter “Christ” as the scientists move to disable the cuffs around Bucky’s legs and arms. He finally sits up, swings his legs over the table, and peers around the room. Steve launches into Bucky, nearly knocking him over with the force of his hug. Bucky huffs out a small laugh and Steve’s heart all but concaves. 

“You’re a lot bigger than I remember,” Bucky says, still frustrated. Steve laughs and tightens his grip around his friend’s waist.

The two other men walk around the table to examine Bucky with faces of caution. For all Tony knows, he could swing out at any moment and land a punch at him. Luckily, Bruce thought about something like this happening and made the sedation extra strong. Bucky was still too drowsy to even stand on his own two feet. Steve finally lets go of Bucky, but keeps him an arm’s length away.

“Where am I? Who are they?” Bucky says, eyeing the men at either side of Steve. His eyes suddenly widen and he leans closer to Steve.

“Did the Nazis get us?” Fear is evident in his voice. Steve pulls back a little

“No, no, nothing like that. Bucky, this is Bruce Banner and Tony Stark. You remember Howard, right? With the floating cars? That’s his son.” Steve gestures to Tony and he shifts uncomfortably. Bucky gasps and looks over at Tony.

“Oh boy, it’s an honor to meet you, sir,” he says, sticking his hand out with a smile. Tony grasps it as they shake hands, still unsure. Tony pulls back and Bucky is about to say something before his eyebrows scrunch together.

“Hey, wait, you look older than Howard.” 

Tony sighs and Steve is about to explain before Bruce steps in.

“Sergeant Barnes, I’m sorry to interrupt, but what is the last thing you remember?”

Bucky shifts his eyes to the side, thinking. “The war. We were fighting and I was shooting down Nazis with the others, but then we were captured and I was separated from the others. They tied me onto a table...and that’s it.”

Bruce nods, looking grave, and takes Steve and Tony to the side. “No one be alarmed, but this is all wrong. What he said was all right before they put their serum in him. Our formula must have completely undone the brainwashing and effects of Hydra’s chemicals. That means he doesn’t remember anything from his time of being The Winter Soldier,” Bruce explains. Tony pales.

“Then how in the hell do we get answers from him?!” Tony yells. Steve sees Bucky jump in the corner of his eye and walks back to his side as Tony and Bruce argue it over.

“Buck, there’s something I gotta tell you. It’s not the 30’s anymore. You’ve been brainwashed for seventy years by an organization called Hydra. It’s 2014. We’re in a tower in New York. The war is over,” Steve says. Bucky looks baffled. But he eventually tilts his head to the side and smiles a little.

“Oh, I get it. You’re just joshing with me. Ha ha, Stevie, very funny. Now really, where are we? Is this some kind of European hospital?”

Steve’s face falls. Tony and Bruce finish their conversation with them both looking at clipboards and Tony shaking his head in disbelief. They move back to Steve and Bucky, looking perplexed.

“I’m sorry, Bucky, but what Steve said is true. You were captured to fight for the enemy several decades ago. We only recently retrieved you from their hands just last week.”

Bucky looks at Bruce, then Tony, then Steve, with his mouth gaping open. They aren’t lying.

“Oh fuck.”


End file.
